India-England Mohali Test: Comfortable victory for India

India wrapped up the second Test quite comfortably. The most encouraging fact of the match for India was the success of Munaf Patel. Finally, India has a bowler who can bowl over 145 km/hr, send in the toe-crushers and even shake up the batsman, something India batsman have been used to for years. As Dravid rightly pointed out, India can return the favor. One can only hope that his pace doesn’t deteriorate with time as in the case of most Indian fast bowlers (Pathan being a prime example).

One can’t help feeling for Piyush Chawla, he was hopelessly under bowled on his debut Test. With Dravid’s, “I won’t swap Anil [Kumble] for anyone in any conditions.” mindset, Chawla can reset his Test hopes for now. His best bet is to break into the ODI team. I was a little surprised that he was sent in after Bhajji despite being a batsman (he top scored in the India U-19 final against Pak).

It was a little disappointing to see England succumb without a fight. I thought India will lose 4-5 wickets before reaching the target. England will be under severe pressure going into the last Test on pitch that has known to aide spinners. But I suspect India will bring back VVS in place of Chawla and go in with four bowlers.

The pressure to retain ones place in the Indian team is evident and a healthy trend. Viru played an uncharacteristic knock to show that he is not completely out of form and can still justify his presence! The pressure is now on Sachin to deliver on his home ground after a string of Test failures.